Here's the setup: I was in Boston covering the A4 event and I rented a brand new Jaguar XJ8 for the weekend. Unfortunately Budget doesn't rent Audi's, but you can get other sweet wheels there. Driving this Jag for two days I feel like the king of the highway; I was traveling in unabashed comfort with plenty of ponies under the hood. The irony is that when I got back to Toronto and got in my A4 to drive home I couldn't believe how much better the A4 drove! The XJ8 may be a $60k luxury sedan, but when it comes to responsiveness, driver feedback and overall fun... the A4 takes the cake.

The get-together was billed as an aftermarket performance event and certainly lived up to its promise. By my count there were over 80 A4's in attendence as well as other various automobiles of European pedigree. The performance side of things consisted of the many, many A4's with aftermarket enhancements, as well as the parts and supplies for sale by various vendors. The event was officially sponsored by Direct Tire (host), 1552 Design (VW Sport USA), Camra Motorsports, Dent Wizard, APR and of course A4.Org.

One of the most impressive cars at the event was the Passat that Tony Ricci from PES showed up with. This 1.8T is a prototype vehicle with PES's new supercharger application. The stock turbo has been completely removed and replaced by a supercharger unit and other custom engine components. I'm certainly no expert on the technical side of this new product, so watch PES's site for detailed information. Suffice it to say, people who rode inthe car said it was very strong and fast (and quieter than the 2.8 supercharger application).

There was one Audi TT that showed up to the event. Not suprisingly, given the amount of attention his car was getting from eager observers, he took off fairly quickly. Not only did this TT look great, but the plates were very appropriate! In terms of A4's, the styles varied widely. There were cars as old as '96 and very new '99.5's as well. The most common aftermarket feature was wheels and there were many of Ronal's R-28's in attendance.

A4.Org reader Doug Carter walked away with the A4.Org-donated Microsoft Force Feedback Steering Wheel. Numerous other items that were donated by the sponsors were raffled off to attendees. The "big" prizes were a set of tires from Direct Tire and 2 chips from APR.

Many thanks go out to Mike Berger for organizing this fantastic event. Thanks also to Direct Tire for hosting the event and providing food and drinks. Probably the biggest highlight for me was getting to meet a lot of people that I've come to know via the site, but never seen in person (including Adrian from VW Sport). It's a great group of people in the New England region and I loook forward to this event in years to come.

There are many more pictures from this event available online. Browse the picture directory to see them all! You can also check out the write-up about the NorCal event here.